Meanwhile Senator McCain went over the target number of delegates and Huckabee dually withdrew leaving McCain as the Presidential nominee for the Republican Party. Lunch today at the White House may see the seal of approval from President Bush – but it is doubtful we will see him on the campaign trial.

Much is being made that a prolonged negative campaign between Obama and Clinton could leave McCain sitting pretty as he has the opportunity to act as a statesman – and separate himself from President Bush. As a political maverick and someone that is known to be independent that should not prove difficult.

The proportional way in which a State’s delegates are allocated has meant in the close Democratic race there is no knock out blow. A winner takes all allocation may give a more resounding margin to one person. McCain can concentrate on raising funds for the White House campaign. Meanwhile the Democratic candidates will be chasing funds for the Primary at least into May.

Obama may have had hope that winning both states may have seen Clinton bow out. His campaign has learnt from earlier on not to build up such expectations. The key thing will be to recognise that the honeymoon is over and that the scrutiny from media and Clinton will be intense, and in all probability very negative. He won Vermont and is still ahead – it is about shifting gear to keep that margin lead to cross 2025 first.

2 responses to “Clinton bounce back – McCain wins nomination”

I started dancing when Huckabee dropped out. Though the candidates keep dragging God out every chance they get, at least we won’t have a evolution denier…

On the other hand, McCain thinks that evolution should be taught considering theology, and Huckabee had the good sense to say that politicians shouldn’t be deciding what is scientific.

And on the other hand, McCain pissed off Focus on the Family enough that the leader isn’t going to vote in the election if he becomes the republican nominee (he will). The fewer evangelicals the better.

One hopes that McCain, unlike Bush, would increase funds for research and science – not cut them. Obama has mentioned the need to increase such spending.

The real test for McCain is choosing a suitable running mate – not least because of his age (at 71). If that was Huckabee or Romney that would change the dimension for me.

While I am impressed by McCain’s maverick tendencies, and his political reform stance (while hoping that a Democrat House would hold sway on social policy issues) I can still be impressed by the Democrat candidates. It looks like they will have plenty of coverage as they battle each other to do that.

The question is when one of them wins the battle for the nomination will they have lost the war for the White House?